Battery material made by Gerbrand Ceder and Byoungwoo Kang could lead to quicker charging portable devices.
(Credit: Donna Coveney/MIT)Engineers at MIT have made a breakthrough that could translate into smaller, lighter, and faster-charging lithium ion batteries, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced Wednesday.
Gerbrand Ceder, the Richard P. Simmons Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT; aided by Byoungwoo Kang, a graduate student in materials science and engineering, have made a small battery that can be fully charged or discharged in 10 to 20 seconds.
A detailed explanation on how they did this has been published in the March 12 issue of Nature, but here is a brief recap of what they essentially accomplished.
While lithium ion batteries have high energy densities, they are also known for their inability to gain and discharge energy quickly. That is why it commonly takes hours to recharge the battery on a plug-in electric vehicle.
Electric vehicle proponents have been struggling with this battery issue, some coming up with clever ways around it. Better Place, for example, came up with the idea of drivers saving time by swapping-out discharged car batteries for fully charged ones at electric vehicle stations.
Ceder and Kang experimented with the way lithium ions move in and around lithium iron phosphate, a material commonly used in lithium ion batteries. They worked with it to develop a new surface structure that gets ions to move more quickly from one place to another. They compare their project to building a beltway that goes around a city to avoid traffic, but has tunnels that let you drop in to exactly where you need to be.
"The ability to charge and discharge batteries in a matter of seconds rather than hours may open up new technological applications and induce lifestyle changes," according to Ceder and Kang's paper in Nature.
In addition to being significantly faster, batteries made with their material degraded much less than usual lithium ion batteries after repeated discharges and recharges during testing. Because of that, they believe their batteries could be made with less material making them lighter and smaller.
Because their invention is not a completely new material, but rather a change to the way it's structured, the researchers said in a statement that their material could be implemented into commercial batteries within 2 to 3 years.
The Greenster sports old-school style on the outside, but green-school tech on the inside.
(Credit: RUF Automobile)RUF Automobile and Siemens Corporate Technology, the research arm of Siemens, debuted their all electric car concept at the Geneva Motor Show this week.
The Greenster, like its name suggests, is designed to look like a roadster vehicle of yesteryear complete with plaid seats. But the tech speaks to the 2000's interest in green technology.
Siemens is providing technology for the car's power train which includes the motor/generator, the power electronics, and the interface with the car's battery.
The Greenster concept car displayed at the Geneva Motor Show had only one motor. But the Pfaffenhausen, Germany-based company said in a statement that the street version, which the company plans to start selling in 2010, will actually have a dual-motor system.
The electric vehicle will be able to recharge in less than an hour when plugged into a 400V outlet. The company made no mention of how long the car might take to recharge if the street version is made to plug into household outlets, which fall between 100 and 240 volts, depending on the country.
Greenster's interior includes the nice throwback touch of black, white, and tan plaid seats.
(Credit: RUF Automobile)
RUF's Greenster in partnership with Siemens.
(Credit: RUF Automobile)Mitsubishi and Peugeot Citroën made an announcement of a similar nature late Tuesday at the Geneva Motor Show.
The two companies have signed an agreement to collaborate on an electric car based on Mitzubishi's i Miev that should become available in late 2010 or early 2011. The car will be manufactured by Mitsubishi, but sold under the Peugeot brand name, according to the agreement.
The i Miev, which will take about 7 hours to recharge at 200V outlets and 14 hours at 100V outlets, is being launched this summer in Japan, with testing and pilot projects underway in the U.S., Europe, and New Zealand, according to Mitsubishi.
The Better Place Rogue is an all-electric version of the Nissan Rogue crossover SUV.
(Credit: Better Place)Hawaii has decided to partner with Better Place to bring car battery exchange stations for electric vehicles to the islands, Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle announced Tuesday.
Better Place stations, similar in concept to gas stations, offer drivers with electric vehicles an automated system that swaps out exhausted lithium ion car batteries for fully-charged ones. The swapping system is intended to be convenient for both drivers and local electric companies, since Better Place can recharge the exhausted batteries with excess electricity generated from renewable sources during off-peak electricity hours.
Lingle said the project is an example of Hawaii's efforts to gain independence from foreign oil, and to stimulate its economy through investment in energy technology.
Not surprising due to its geography, Hawaii spends about $7 billion a year on oil imports with its drivers facing some of the toughest prices at the pump in the U.S. The plan to implement Better Place stations coincides with the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) intended to change that. Signed in January, it sets Hawaii's renewable energy bar at 70 percent clean energy by 2030, as well as encouraging programs that foster local economic growth.
Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place, was also on hand at the plan unveiling in Hawaii on December 2. According to Agassi, Hawaii is the second state in the U.S., and the fifth place in the world, to adopt the Better Place electric-car infrastructure. Better Place stations have already been implemented in Denmark and Israel, with Australia and California recently announcing intentions to add them.
"Hawaii, with its ready access to renewable energy resources like solar, wind, wave, and geothermal, is the ideal location to serve as a blueprint for the rest of the U.S. in terms of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, growing our renewable energy portfolio and creating an infrastructure that will stabilize our economy," Agassi said in a statement to the press.
Hawaii Electric is also onboard. The state's electric utility signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Better Place which plans to power its public charging and battery-swapping stations with renewable energy resources.
According to the plan, Better Place will pull permits for its stations in 2009, offer electric cars within 18 months, and make both available for the mass-market in Hawaii by 2012.
Better Place has said it's in talks with major automakers and would like to offer swappable batteries for any electric vehicle regardless of which company makes the car. But right now the company's stations only service two electric vehicles: the Renault Megane and the Better Place Rogue, an electric vehicle based on the Nissan Rogue crossover SUV.
Hawaii's plan with Better Place is to install about 20 electric battery-swapping stations across its islands.
(Credit: Better Place)A project funded by the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory will test bidirectional battery chargers and "smart" grids that could prevent U.S. electric grid overload from plug-in vehicles.
Ecotality is best known for the Hydratus, its onboard hydrogen fuel generator for buses, that grew out of a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory project. Its subsidiary, eTec, makes chargers for rechargeable lithium ion and lead acid batteries used in electric light-construction vehicles.
Through this project, eTec will test battery-charging technology that could eventually be used to mitigate the anticipated strain on the U.S. electric grid from plug-in hybrid cars, the company announced Tuesday.
A company called V2Green has developed a "smart" electric grid that allows charging stations to control the flow of electricity between plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) batteries and an electric grid. Working with V2Green and its system, eTec plans to test the strain that bidirectional fast charging might have on the life of PHEV batteries.
The goal is to develop a system that would essentially allow plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, in conjunction with battery-charging stations, to store energy at charging stations so they could recharge in 10 minutes at any time, taking from the electric grid during off-peak hours and giving electricity to the grid during peak hours.
"Not only does this project demonstrate the ability to fast-charge a PHEV in 10 minutes, but it also highlights the additional benefit of fast-charging systems for managing facility energy consumption," Don Karner, the president and CEO of eTec, said in a statement.
Keep in mind, eTec does not manufacture the type of electric car battery you would find in a plug-in hybrid car like a Toyota Prius, but rather for those found in slower, lightweight off-road electric vehicles. Still, the project, if successful, could provide an immediate application for construction and utility companies that already rely on fleets of light PHEVs.
Karner said the data gathered on bidirectional fast-charging for recharging facilities, as well as on electric utilities, could lay "the foundation for the development of a public fast-charging infrastructure for on-road electric vehicles."
Several studies on this topic are under way, as delivery dates of plug-in hybrids for Main Street USA, promised by automakers such as Toyota, Ford Motor, and General Motors, loom closer.
While the U.S. Department of Energy has said it's confident it can handle a plethora of plug-ins, many still wonder what kind of strain will be put on the U.S. power infrastructure once consumers tap into it as a fuel source to recharge cars.
Even the confident Department of Energy announced in mid-June that it's giving $30 million to several car companies and research institutes to further develop hybrid plug-in car technology. Some of that funding is earmarked specifically for research on battery packs and charging systems.
The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), with sponsorship from General Motors and others, has also announced that it has a grant to study what effects a multitude of PHEVs being charged during peak electricity hours might have on Michigan's state electric grid.
The city of San Jose, Calif., announced on Tuesday that it will begin testing electric car charging stations developed by start-up Coulomb Technologies.
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